Embodiments described herein generally relate to semi-solid suspensions, and more particularly to systems and methods for preparing semi-solid suspensions for use as electrodes in electrochemical devices such as, for example, batteries.
Batteries are typically constructed of solid electrodes, separators, electrolyte, and ancillary components such as, for example, packaging, thermal management, cell balancing, consolidation of electrical current carriers into terminals, and/or other such components. The electrodes typically include active material, conductive material, binders and other additives.
Some known methods for preparing batteries include coating a metallic substrate (e.g., a current collector) with slurry composed of an active material, a conductive additive, and a binding agent dissolved in a solvent, evaporating the solvent, and calendering the dried solid matrix to a specific thickness. The electrodes are then cut, packaged with other components, infiltrated with electrolyte and the entire package is then sealed.
Such known methods generally involve complicated and expensive manufacturing steps such as casting the electrode and are only suitable for electrodes of limited thickness, e.g., less than 100 μm. These known methods for producing electrodes of limited thickness result in batteries with lower capacity, lower energy density, and a high ratio of inactive components to active material. Furthermore, the binders used in known electrode formulations can increase tortuosity and decrease the ionic conductivity of the electrode. Thus, it is an enduring goal of energy storage systems development to simplify and reduce manufacturing cost, reduce inactive components in the electrodes and finished battery and increase performance.